3 years that would change the will forever. ah, but jillions journey around the world. september 7th on d w. ah, ah, this is dw news alive from berlin. a loss leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev has died with a policy of openness and reforms. gorbachev is widely credited for his role in helping to bring down the iron curtain and enter the cold war. coming up on the show, heavy fighting rages in russian occupied areas of southern ukraine keeps as its

horses have destroyed bridges and ammunition depos as part of its long awaited counter offensive in the house on region. and a 3rd of pakistan is under water in the wake of a monsoon on steroids, those are the words of the un secretary general describing the catastrophic flooding that has impacted tens of millions of people. ah, hello, i'm clear richardson, a warm welcome to the show. they called gorbachev the former soviet leader, who helped to bring the cold war to a peaceful conclusion has died at the age of 91 after a long illness. with policies that promoted free speech and reform within the communist bloc. garbage have forged a new dialogue with the west, one that ultimately brought down the iron curtain that had divided europe since 945,

and put germany on track to re unification. ah, mikhail gorbachev arrived and freedom followed. when he visited east berlin for the g d r's, 40th anniversary celebrations. gorbachev urged english hanukkah to implement reforms. he warned the east german leader saying, life punishes those who come too late. a month after his visit, the berlin fell and with the iron curtain that had divided europe for decades. it was gorbachev's reformers, policies that helped unleash a peaceful revolution across eastern europe with as yet he laid out his agenda in his 1st speech, as leader of the soviet union works out a stark contrast to what had gone before. also, she is vanya. we asked what was the order, right,

right. every piece and freedom is the most. am hoffman basic right of each individual or our kilobit. gorbachev wanted to change the soviet union to bring it closer to the people. he promoted glass, most openness and perestroika reforms to words that will forever be associated with him. his new outlook was popular with many his policies also applied to the military. despite the resistance of soviet generals issued to us in severe, for his honest, i'm convinced that we will also have to reform our military. last, we have far too many weapons steadily. we have to seek dialogue with other superpowers and reduce our arsenals to a reasonable extent, give shout. as a result of that dialogue gorbachev and

u. s. president reagan signed the 1st of many disarmament treaties in 1987. it was the beginning of the end of the cold war in 1990 gorbachev was awarded the nobel peace prize for his key role in bringing about a new peaceful world order. internationally, he was highly regarded but at home he was increasingly under pressure. the economic situation was dire. the soviet union on the verge of falling apart, communist hardliners stage, a coup against gorbachev in 1991 and put the soviet leader under house arrest and his holiday retreat in crimea. one man stopped the boris yeltsin, the russian president. gorbachev was allowed to return to moscow, but politically,

he was ruined. he else in banned the communist party and publicly humiliated coverage of you sell the yo, yo sure you should always. shortly afterwards, the soviet union was dissolved in december 1991 mikhail gorbachev announced his resignation. his attempts to regain political ground in the new russia failed. many russians held him responsible for the demise of the soviet union. but while his own country turned its back on him, gorbachev was hailed around the world as the man to help tear down the iron curtain and bring about a peaceful revolution. and have been tributes from leaders around the world for the former soviet leader and russia. a spokesman for vladimir putin said the president expressed his deepest condolences to gorbachev's family, un chief antonio quoterush said he was deeply saddened by gorbachev's passing and

described him as a one of a kind statesman who changed the course of history. european commission president was a hunter line. meanwhile, said gorb, which has crucial role in bringing down the iron curtain, opened the way for a free europe. and the foundation of former u. s. president ronald reagan tweeted this. gorbachev was a man who was once a political adversary, but who ended up becoming a friends o. e. wayne mary spent 26 years in the u. s. foreign service, including at the embassy in moscow at the end of the u. s. s. r. he spoke to me earlier about corporate has legacy. i think at the moment, given what's going on in the war in ukraine. perhaps his greatest legacy is that he let the soviet union fail without spilling a lot of blood to try to preserve it. now he did accountant, some bloodshed in lithuania, some torture when it really came to the question of, are you willing to use massive tours to preserve the communist party,

to preserve your own power and to preserve the soviet union? he would not do it. and i think that legacy today is something that should be recognized as they are a great many powerful figures in the world who are willing to use force to hold on to their power and to hold on to their political system. gorbachev intimately, despite his personal commitment to the linen his system, despite his personal belief in soviet communism, which i think continued right up through the remainder of his life. ultimately, he was not willing to school that boy. and i think in many ways, that's one of his great achievements and to we know what he thought about russia today, under president vladimir putin. we hear from people who have spoken with him and he tended to be rather candid in his private remarks. i can say he was, he was appalled. i don't think we know what he thought about the current war because he's, he's been sick for quite a while. so i don't think we have any records from you thoughts about the war in,

in ukraine. but certainly, i think he felt that the country was definitely going in the wrong direction in recent years, under was leadership. former to pull that way to marry speaking to me earlier there on to russia's war in ukraine. and keith says its troops are engaged in intense fighting across the southern harrison region a day after claiming to have broken through enemy lines at several points. ukraine is trying to retake territory occupied by russian forces. the push follows weeks of preparation with ukraine attacking russia. supply routes in an attempt to isolate troops in the area. russia captured her son early on in the war. and the ukraine encounter offensive comes as a new defense minister as whole 2 days of talks in prague. to discuss military support for keith. talk so far have focused on setting up a training program for the ukrainian army to enable them to operate western weapons

. germany was initially criticized for not sending weapons quickly enough, but berlin has recently announced its ramping up military aid that includes the delivery of brand new precision missiles. ukraine's ammunition supply is about to get a boost. it's howard sir. artillery units will be stocked with a new tucker show called the volcano. germany says it's sending several 100 volcano munitions to the front line. the gps and laser guided missiles reach up to 80 kilometers, almost doubling the range of most how it says already existing donated equipment is having an impact. hope so rascal, when it blue blue a shelling on slow vianza every day. but due to new weapons that were perceived from the west to particularly high mars and poets is our chances have equalized. you see, they would have thought one of our shots was answered with 50 shots from them. well

needed today. the ratio is $1.00 to $4.00 or $1.00 to $5.00 frequency. they didn't look at the this within that you did. okay. ah, hi mars are the us supplied long range mobile rocket launches, which of allowed ukraine to hit deep behind russian lies. countries have pledged almost 90000000000 euros worth of equipment or military financing. the u. s. is by far the biggest donor followed by the united kingdom and the european union. poland is number 4. it's donations include how it, sir. artillery vehicles like these to replace ukraine's soviet era tanks and cannon as much as certainly i think the advance is more successful on our side. because our equipment is more modern. we attack the occupiers. more precisely. germany is the 5th biggest military donor. it is now pledged almost 2000000000 years worth of aid, including anti aircraft vehicles and training for troops to operate them. the

melody is in to men who are here will defend the country highly. they will defend it against the terrible threat posed to ukraine by russia's brutal war of aggression. and we will continue to support them without financial capabilities, but also with weapons of within buffalo and private individuals have also sent 1000000 for help ukraine by drones, for its fleet of cries in the sky. foreign support has been crucial in keeping ukraine's resistance efforts afloat and helping it defend its territory for longer than anyone expected. let's bring you up to speed now went some other stories making headlines at this hour. a iraqi president bar. hm. sally has called war early elections to settle a political crisis which has triggered some of the deadliest violence in years. at least 30 people have been killed since clash as between rival she eyed factions broke out on monday,

influential shiite cleric looked hot outsider as called on his supporters to end their processes. most ahead of november's mid term elections in the united states. president joe biden has travelled the key battleground state of pennsylvania. there he demanded action on gun violence and called for a ban on assault weapons from gay. former president, donald trump, is expected to hold a rally in the same city on saturday. the law, the by the taliban have been celebrating the 1st anniversary of the withdrawal of us troops from afghanistan, with fireworks in couple us president joe biden faced heavy criticism when his forces withdrew. allowing the taliban to regain control of the war torn country. are you and chief antonio, the trash has called for action to help pakistan cope with a devastating floods. much of the country is submerged, prompting the government and the un to appeal for additional emergency aid. the floods have killed more than a 1000 people and left millions homeless. as the rains

finally ease the scale of the catastrophe becomes clear. the worst flooding in pakistan's history has left more than one 3rd of the country under water. satellite images revealed the sheer extent of the damage which pakistan's foreign minister has blamed on climate change. i want to emphasize here that the scale and magnitude of the current floods is unprecedented, whereby the country received rainfall equivalent to 3 times the national. many now shelter in makeshift camps where supplies of food, medicine and clean water are running dangerously low. the un secretary general appealed to the international community for help. warning that the climate induced crisis poses a global challenge. pakistan is

a washing suffering. the pakistani people are facing them on soon on steroids. the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding. let stop sleep walking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change to they. it is pakistan. to morrow, it could be your country. the un has cold for a $160000000.00 in international aid to help those most in need. but the pakistani government says it will need more than $10000000000.00 to recover. and with more rain predicted in the coming weeks. that number is likely to rise. before we go, let's get our minder of our top story at this, our former soviet lead army house on such have has died aged, 90 wine with policies the produce free speech and reform. within the communist block of a child, forged a new dialogue with the west and ultimately brought down the iron curtain and

brought about german reunification. this our state and for the business had lines of my colleagues stephen beardsley asked for the next 3 slash were. i'm just kinda, i think that tags and in the end is a me, you are not a lot of to you and more we will send you back. are you familiar with this.